They sat silently as Chief Crawley inspected the photo. "And you found this on Vera Bates's body?"

"Yes." Anna flexed her fingers to stop herself tapping them on the arms of her chair. "It's a message for someone."

"Someone like me?"

Anna exchanged a look with John before he nodded and she answered Chief Crawley's question. "We think it's a warning to you but a message to someone else."

"Who else?"

"Someone with just as much to lose as you if Ms. Moorsum dies." John shrugged, "Someone who knows what happened between you two and… May not want their own secrets to get revealed."

"Our killer's into revealing secrets now?" Chief Crawley offered a mirthless laugh, "Will misfortunes never cease with this case?"

"I very much doubt he'll take into account our opinions about what is and isn't permissible as far as the limit to misfortune we're bound to endure." Anna folded her hands in her lap. "Sir, I've got to ask this, who else knew about you and Ms. Moorsum?"

"You mean besides my wife and daughter?"

"I mean someone who might have access to this evidence?" Anna nodded toward the photo. "It was put on Vera Bates's body. Someone in this office would have access to it and, excluding yourself, who else might see it and know it had meaning beyond the obvious?"

Chief Crawley paused, "They you don't think she's a target?"

"She very well could be but I think she's acting as a very different kind of weapon." John shrugged, "I agree with Ms. Smith. I think it's a message."

"To the person with just as much to lose as me?" Chief Crawley mused a moment, "Then the question is whose reputation would be on the line if anything came out about them? What kinds of skeletons are hiding in back closets and who might find that discovery awkward?"

"I've got my own theories where that's concerned." John worked his jaw, "But you'd probably accuse me of a personal vendetta."

"If you're going to suggest Vyner-"

"He just happened to be in the neighborhood?"

"So were you, John, no matter the excuse you present." John quieted as Chief Crawley tapped the photo with his finger. "And Vyner doesn't know anything about what happened between Ms. Moorsum and I."

"You're sure about that?" Anna pressed and Chief Crawley paused. "Because, with your permission, I'd like to ask her that myself."

"Nothing good'll come from dredging up the past."

"It's already dredged, sir." Anna bit at her lip, shifting in her chair. "And, while I truly hope not, she might know who the target really is."

"More to the point, it wouldn't hurt to get eyes on her to confirm someone else didn't get their eyes, or hands, on her first." John opened his hands to Chief Crawley's raised eyebrow. "What harm could a little discreet questioning do?"

"Bring all of this to light."

"That's exactly the kind of fear our killer's banking on." Anna traced her teeth with her tongue before speaking again. "From what our… friend in custody's suggested to us, he's a former agent of the government. He's used to working with ransom and he deals in secrets."

"Secrets like Ms. Moorsum?"

"Secrets like trying to keep Ms. Moorsum from the public eye." Anna raised a hand to stop Chief Crawley from interrupting. "I'm not saying we're plastering her face on the papers. But this is a piece of information that could…"

"Ruin me?"

"Or her." John shrugged, "I think we're missing the part of this that she has as much to lose as you. Perhaps more, given she's a woman."

Chief Crawley pursed his lips, his fingers beating a tattoo on his desk before he sighed. "Ms. Moorsum's taken a job with the city's offices. I got her son into a boarding school, close by to it, and… And helped her get the job when she left here."

"Have you still kept in contact with her?"

Chief Crawley shook his head, "What happened with Jane was… Was a mistake. We both realized it and we both regret it. We won't encourage it to continue or risk that kind of thing again."

"Then we know it's probably not her who's leaked this information." John stood, Anna following suit. "Would she be home?"

"Since it's Sunday, probably." Chief Crawley gave his own confused shrug. "I've no idea where she's living now but based on the way she lived before, the position of her job, and her son's school, she's probably near the city offices."

"Wonderful." Anna took the photo back. "We'll make sure this doesn't blow back. On you or her. I think… I think you've both suffered enough."

"I'm glad you think so." Chief Crawley waved them toward the door. "Keep this to yourselves, if you could."

"We will." John closed the door behind them and Anna nodded her head toward the corridor. "What is it?"

"I've got to get some help."

"For…?" John shook his head and Anna jerked her head toward where Talbot sat in a holding cell. "I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Not given what he's not, technically, supposed to be here." Anna bit at the inside of her cheek. "We need to get him help."

"I'm not sure we do."

"If the emphasis you put on that 'we' was because you don't like him-"

"I don't knock just anyone over the head with my gun."

"That being said," Anna rolled her eyes, "I want to help him."

"Then I do hope you don't mind if I excuse myself from that."

"So you'll be taking someone else to speak to Ms. Moorsum?" Anna waited as John winced. "Would you have to take Vyner?"

"I'd rather die than take Vyner and since Tom's going to be busy, with him, clearing the scene, we've found ourselves at an impasse."

"I don't think it's impossible for us to accomplish both."

"And what about them?" John pointed over his shoulder.

"Who?" Anna leaned around him to note Sybil and Selina entering the room, both staying closer to each other than any other surface until they noticed John and Anna. "I almost forgot about them."

"And now that they're here?"

"I feel like you're trying to press me to something and I won't like where this is going." Anna closed her eyes and counted to ten for a second before giving a sigh. "How long will Vyner hold Henry?"

"At least until he has to release him. Which he'll use to his advantage and hold Talbot as long as possible."

"Then we'll handle this one after the other." Anna shifted around John. "I believe we need to address these lovely women who are here to help us."

"Not Ms. Moorsum?"

"If we've got a picture to show her, then she can tell us if she's actually seen Green." Anna took a second of walking backward, narrowly dodging the edge of a desk. "Unless you think she'll know who we're asking about otherwise."

She turned on her toes, dodging someone carrying a load of files, and greeted the women. "Just this way ladies. And thank you for coming."

"If it helps out a few people then it's alright with us." Selina adjusted her coat. "Besides, Big Al's interested in getting this menace off the streets."

"I didn't take him for a public servant." John joined them, leading the way to where a sketch artist set up in an interrogation room.

"If he's worried about whether or not people are taking us out then there's no business, is there?" Selina took a seat, Sybil next to her as the woman turned her screen toward them and readied her pen on a tablet. "They just do it all on this then? No pencil and paper no more?"

"It's a better system this way." The woman used her pen to point to the different settings. "I make a rough sketch using these basic outlines and then you give me details to narrow down the appearance. The system's simultaneously checking the faces against recognition software to try and pull an actual photograph from records and cameras."

"How fancy." Sybil got comfortable in her chair. "Well he's about medium height. Got this… dark look about him."

The sketcher paused, "That's not really a description I've got in the system."

"He's white. Not a pasty white but it was under an orange light so he's not tan." Sybil turned to Selina, "What'd you think?"

"I think," Anna lowered her voice, turning to put her back to the two women. "I've found my opening."

"You're going now?"

"I don't…" Anna shook her head. "I don't want to hear them describe him. I know… I know I don't want to know what he looks like."

"Did you…" John paused, moving them out of the doorway as Sybil and Selina debated over the exact shape of Green's jaw. "I thought you knew what he looked like. That you'd… Confronted him."

"I did, over a decade ago." Anna shook her head. "I don't want to know what he looks like now. I… I can't. I can't look at him or think like that until he's sitting in one of those cages."

"Then I'll…" John struggled a moment. "You asked them to come in. You knew they'd tell us what he looks like."

"And you're wondering how I didn't put that together with the moment I'm having right now?"

"Yes. I'm confused beyond adequate expression."

"Just think of it like someone who gets behind the wheel of a car, after an accident, and thinks they're ready for it until the engine rumbles to life and they realize their hands are shaking and they can't do it." Anna put her palm to her forehead and pressed. "I thought… I thought I could handle it but I can't. I'm not ready for it. For whatever they'll say about him. For the picture they'll make of him."

John's cheeks sucked in and he nodded. "I understand."

"Do you?"

"I've had more than a few witnesses who thought they were ready to stand on trial or face their attackers just to crumble at the sight of them again. I know a bit about when and how to push or prod and this is the time to back off." John jerked his head toward the door. "Why don't you go about that way you were thinking of helping your friend and I'll handle them."

"Really?"

"Sure." John winked at her, "I think I'm more their type than you are anyway. I might be able to get some more information out of them about Green. Or Ethel. Or even Big Al if it comes to that."

"You think Albert Mason would say two words to us?"

"We got the original location from Blake and we've got two of Mason's… employees, giving us a description right now." John shrugged, "Who knows, maybe he believes that the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Or he's biding his time." Anna grabbed for her coat, collecting a few things. "I won't be long."

"I still have to dig out the home address anyway." John checked the time. "And maybe consider some food or sleep before tomorrow."

"Maybe."

Anna hurried out of the building and snagged a passing cab to take her toward the center of the city. There she wove between the towering buildings of the business district before entering one of the newer, glass-paneled ones. A short chat with a security guard and a lift ride later, she exited on one of the nicer floors and pushed through doors bearing linked names in careful script. One of those names reading on the plate outside the office she entered.

An office where a redheaded woman argued with someone on the other end of a phone. Their eyes met and with a raised finger, the other woman stopped Anna speaking to continue arguing with whomever spoke on the other end. So Anna took a seat and waited. Waited through three rounds of repeated arguments and the growing strain on the end of the redheaded woman until Anna leaned forward and depressed the button on the phone.

The woman blinked at her, holding a silent phone, and Anna only shrugged. "You should've hung up two rounds ago."

"That's backfire on me."

"But now you're not busy."

"And if I told you I was on a call with one of our very important clients?"

"Then they'll see it reflected in the same bill where you tell them how rude it is to make you work on the weekends."

"I'm the founding partner of this firm," She pointed toward the entrances Anna just used. "My name is literally outside these offices. That reflects on me."

"Then hopefully whomever was wasting your time is now considering that fact before they try to call you back." As if on cue, the phone rang but Anna put her hand over it to stop the woman answering. "Don't do it Gwen."

"Because you need my time more?"

"Because making one of the entitled pricks who hired you to handle another messy divorce wait an hour won't harm them unduly." Anna reclined back as the phone stopped ringing. "Maybe it'll teach them to leave it well enough alone."

"Not to fight the battle into the ground?"

"Exactly." Anna smiled, "I always knew you were listening in those lectures."

"It's how I got here, with my name on a door."

"I do hope you're not trying to make me jealous Gwen."

"Never." Gwen settled in her seat. "I know you're not here to see me to catch up since you've been in Dublin for almost a month and haven't even called."

"I wouldn't want to waste your time with those things that aren't urgent."

"And what, may I ask, qualifies as urgent to you?"

Anna leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice. "It's about a boy."

"A boy?"

"A man, really." Anna ran her teeth against the inside of her cheek. "When was the last time you found time for chasing them?"

"On a regular basis in the courtroom and more often than I like to admit at pubs when I'm chasing them away from my girlfriend, why?"

"Because I've got a man who could use a good defense to get himself out of a rather sticky bind."

"Did he put himself there?"

"Yes and no."

"Someone I know?"

Anna winced, "You might remember him from days a bit more gone by."

Gwen stopped, "I'm sure you're already aware, since I know Blake's… friend, gave you an earful about using him, but I'm not in that game anymore."

"And how's life treating you now?"

"I've got my name on a door."

"That's not really what I meant."

"It's freeing." Gwen reclined back in her chair. "Now that I'm not under the thumb of Her Majesty's… services, I find life most fulfilling."

"You're still a silk."

"But I'm not in a closet and that was very cramped for me. Both in and out of the service we both…" Gwen stopped, "Are you still in it?"

"Not in the same way." Anna played her fingers over the desk, "Is life here really that liberating?"

"It's better than you'd imagine… If you allowed yourself to."

"I hope you're not accusing me of no imagination."

"Just of seeing a very big but very particular picture." Gwen clicked her teeth. "Who would I be representing?"

"A friend… And maybe me, if it came down to it."

"You, always, as for your friend…" Gwen winced, "That depends on the friend. Do we like him?"

"He's a little stringy and tough to swallow sometimes."

"That one?" Gwen rolled her eyes, "I owe him a favor that he'll never call in because he's embarrassed by it so if this covers that then I'm out for good."

"What favor?"

"That's between me and our stringy friend." Gwen paused, "Is this about that case you've been working?"

"I'm always on a case."

"Don't be difficult, you know what I mean."

Anna sighed and nodded, "Exactly that."

"Bugger me." Gwen whistled, "You never did pick the easy ones."

"They were already taken by the time I got there." Anna pointed down, "Short legs, you understand."

"Right." Gwen shook her head, "Alright. I'll go and help our stringy friend get himself out of an inconvenient bind but, otherwise, I don't want any part of this. Whatever you're about, that's between you and whatever demons you're slaying. Understand?"

Anna nodded, standing up from the chair. "You're the best Gwen."

"I'd rather you not forget that, by the way." The phone rang again and Gwen picked it up. "This is Gwen Dawson of Dawson and Harding. Ah, yes, Mr. Bricker, I'm so sorry the line cut out on us earlier. We're getting out offices rewired."

Before Anna reached the ground floor of the building again, her phone buzzed. The address listed gave her driver enough information to speed through traffic and drop her not two streets from the city offices. Right to where John waited as Anna paid the driver before joining him.

"Ms. Moorsum's house then?"

"Yeah." John patted the pocket of his coat. "And I've got the sketch so we'll give her something to reference visually."

"Right." Anna tugged at her fingers. "And the issue with Henry's resolved, for the moment anyway… In case you were curious."

"I can honestly say I wasn't too fussed about what'll get Mr. Talbot out of jail but I'm glad it gave you some peace of mind." John turned to the house and pressed the buzzer on the wall. "I just hope this gives Robert some peace of mind as well."

"I'd take another dose of that." Anna pulled her coat closer as a voice on the other end of the buzzer crackled.

"Yes?"

"Jane Moorsum?"

"Yes, this is she." The pause almost had Anna holding her breath. "Who wants to know?"

"My name is John Bates, I work with the division of the Guards managed by Robert Crawley."

"I'm sorry but you've got-"

"It's about something other than Chief Crawley, Ms. Moorsum." Anna spoke through the speaker, John edging to give her room while keeping the button depressed. "We think you're being targeted by a dangerous man."

"Targeted?"

"We think you're collateral for someone working a scheme and we'd like to speak to you about it." John gave Anna a look as they waited a moment. "If you let us up we can explain it a bit better in person."

"Alright."

The door buzzed open and John led the way up two flights of stairs in the lift-less building. Old construction left bits and pieces creaking along with the discernible chill to the corridors but they found the right door and knocked. And then waited as two locks slid or clicked back to reveal a brunette woman with a fearful edge to her eyes.

"Please come in." She stepped to the side and Anna led the way, feeling almost crowded in the tiny entry. "I'll have you in the kitchen, if that's alright, my mother's got Freddie doing his homework in the sitting room and I don't-"

"The kitchen's fine." Anna smiled at her, removing her coat as they walked a few steps to the linoleum floor before taking seats on old but well-cared-for chairs. "And we're sorry if what we said on the buzzer-"

"Am I really being targeted?" Ms. Moorsum clung to the counter behind her, her knuckles going white. "Is someone trying to hurt me or my family?"

"That's what we're trying to find out, Mrs. Moorsum." John dug the sketch from his pocket and Anna forced herself to look at Ms. Moorsum and not the picture. "Do you recognize this man?"

She joined them at the table, her hands shaking so badly she interlaced them and pressed to whiten her knuckles again. It took a few moments but she shook her head, "I've never seen him before."

"You're sure?" Anna pressed, still avoiding the picture. "Not hanging around in the offices where you work, on the streets, at parks, restaurants, anywhere?"

"No." Ms. Moorsum shook her head more firmly. "I've never seen this man before. That kind of… Stare… I'd remember it. I'd remember eyes like that and I've not seen them."

Anna turned to John and he tucked the picture away, nodding at her to continue. She faced Ms. Moorsum again. "I'm sure what we're about to say might make you feel a little… awkward, but I promise this is between us and no one else."

"You're about to ask about why I left working for Chief Crawley, aren't you?"

"No." Anna shook her head, "We're aware of the conditions that led to you parting ways and we're not here about whatever might've happened."

"Then why…" Ms. Moorsum trailed off. "Why would you be here if I can't help you with your picture and you're not asking about-"

"Did anyone else know what happened?" John broke through and Ms. Moorsum almost jumped in her seat. "Or, did anyone suspect anything?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"Because this," John brought out the picture of Ms. Moorsum and slid it over the table. "Was found at a crime scene where you've never been and wouldn't have any connection to."

"And you're trying to…" Ms. Moorsum's hand flexed, as if depressing the air over the photo, before she faced them. "You want to know why it'd be there?"

"We're relatively sure it's a warning to someone."

"I didn't-"

"Not you," Anna hurried to clarify, noting the slight sag of relief to Ms. Moorsum's shoulders. "We think it was left for someone else."

"Someone who knew about the incident but wasn't related to the Crawleys." John flexed his jaw. "Someone who might've gained the information for use in blackmail or information leveraging."

Ms. Moorsum finally tapped the photograph before sliding it back to John. "If it's anyone, it would've been Vyner."

"Why do you say that?"

Ms. Moorsum shrugged, looking to Anna as John tucked the picture away again. "Before Chief Crawley and I… Vyner always had an interest in me. I didn't return his interest and he had a habit of making life difficult for me. I tried to go around him, ignore him, and when I told Chief Crawley this he helped me. It's what brought us closer and we…"

She almost managed a smile before collecting herself. "Once that ended, Vyner almost seemed… happy about it. As if he knew what happened. When he found out I was leaving he became a little…. Vindictive. Nothing overt but it was a relief to leave. Even if there wasn't an official dark cloud I felt like I left under one but that I also left one."

"And you think if someone wanted to send a message, they'd use this photograph?" John's eyes narrowed as Ms. Moorsum nodded in the affirmative.

"It was one I'd taken for some professional photographs. I'd noticed one missing from a file I'd kept and thought nothing of it but I had them. For passport photos and visas and the like you know?"

"You think he stole this?"

Ms. Moorsum nodded again, "He's not bothered me since I left but I've tried to divorce myself from all the business there. Both the things that happened and the things that didn't."

"Probably for the best." Anna nodded at John and they stood, each taking a turn shaking her hand. "I promise, this conversation stays between us. It's unofficial and you won't have to tell anyone about it either."

"So this is over?" Ms. Moorsum's arms went around her torso, holding tightly but not tightly enough to whiten her knuckles a third time. "There's no target?"

"I think the target's shifted backs." Anna smiled to her, "If you'd like, we'll have someone keep an eye on you for the next few days. Just to be sure."

"I'd appreciate it." She walked them to the door and they managed the tight shuffle back to the corridor. "For all that's happened, I do hope you could pass my gratitude to Chief Crawley. He's… He's been kind to me and mine. Despite what happened and how it all fell out, I'll be forever grateful to him."

"We'll let him know." John tipped his head to her. "Good night Ms. Moorsum and we'll get a Guard or two to pass by, keep an eye."

"Thank you." She shut the door, the locks going back into place, and leaving John and Anna alone in the corridor again.

"Well," Anna turned to John as they descended the stairs and exited to the cold again. "At the risk of insulting you, I'm sure you feel a bit vindicated by this."

"I can't say I'm too upset about the chance to sit Frank Vyner down and have an equally frank discussion about what Jane Moorsum means to him to the degree that a derange serial killer leaves her photograph for him."

"I think you'd find it has a lot more to do with the other information that could be held over his head." Anna and John froze as an old man, looking no more dangerous than a gray Father Christmas, joined them in the street. "I believe you two wanted to have a talk with me."

"Did we?" John raised his eyebrows. "I don't remember scheduling any interviews with Saint Nicholas."

"But you'd like to know how 'Big Al' wants to defend the neighborhood, don't you?" He tipped his hat to them. "Here I am."